


Unprofessionalism

by SorcorerSupreme



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Break Up, Drama, F/M, Falling In Love, First Dates, First Love, Fluff, Gay Male Character, Lots of drama, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, Mental Breakdown, Original Character(s), Romantic Fluff, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic, Worried Boyfriend, is going to shoot his way into y'all hearts, overprotective best friend, redbull's still shit, someone wants to protect the loved one, starts at the belgian gp 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-08-20 04:31:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20221849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorcorerSupreme/pseuds/SorcorerSupreme
Summary: Kisses are shared, hugs are given, tears are shed and suddenly, one realizes how difficult it actually is to give back.Statements are shared, evidence is destroyed, nights are wasted, lips are sore, lovebites are hidden.Blackmailing is done, articles are shared and commented on.And even if their love is different, there's one fear they all share: what if someone found out and shared it with the world?





	1. introduction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ilfaitfrais](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilfaitfrais/gifts).

After summer break, there are always some new faces and changes. Not necessarily in the team, but definitely from the media. Not that he actually cares about those annoying people who would always ask him the same questions over and over again, but it was still nice to see some new faces.

The F2 guys just had their practice session and he had decided to watch it together with his former Carlin crew, chatting about his first F1 season and other stuff while the cars were out on the track. One huge topic was Mick Schumacher who had managed to find some lost performance in his Prema car after driving his dad’s old Ferrari around Hockenheim.

After the young German had taken the chequered flag, Lando decided he had seen enough and made his way back to the McLaren motorhome, not without being stopped by fans who asked for selfies and autographs. Sometimes, he didn’t feel like doing it, but the selfies, autographs and the Twitch sessions were the best ways to give them something back for their support. So he smiled and fulfilled their requests, signed their merch and thanked them for supporting him.

Because of that, the usual five minutes walk to the motorhome took way longer and when he noticed Mick walking over to the media pen, he realized he was already late for the debrief. “Fuck”, he muttered under his breath and gave the two young ladies who approached him an excusing smile, “I’m really sorry but I have to go.”

Debrief with Carlos and their team included lots of jokes, teasing and Zac’s comments that he didn’t sign up for this kind of unprofessionalism – even though he exactly had known that this would become a part of the daily Formula One life the second he had watched Lando sign his contract. This time, Carlos teased him about the 24h Spa sim race where he had teamed up with Max and the apparent advantage he would have because of this.

From the debrief he want straight to his room, changed into his racing gear and did his usual warming up routine before the second practice session. Even though there were still things to improve, he was excited to get back into the car and drive on this truly fascinating circuit and he hoped the feedback he had given them directly after FP1 and during the debrief helped the team to improve the car’s performance.

Just when he walked to the garage, he noticed Mick standing in front of the Scuderia Ferrari garage, chatting with a girl he could have sworn he hasn’t seen in the paddock, especially not that close to Schumacher Junior. Not looking in front of him but instead watching the pair closely, he ran into someone and looked up at the person. “S-sorry, didn’t see you”, he mumbled and Nico Rosberg smiled at him. “It’s alright, wasn’t that focused either”, the German admitted and pat his back before approaching the pair.

“Linnea, there you are! Your uncle’s been looking for you.” For some weird reasons, he craved to actually see her face which was now hidden behind her blonde hair and thought about approaching her, but Carlos was so thoughtful and grabbed his arm quite harshly, pulling him into the garage by doing so.

“What do you think are you doing?” Furiously, he looked at his teammate and the Spaniard shrugged. “Dude, she belongs to the media. German media to be exact.” In confusion, he stared at Carlos and shrugged. “How do you know that and why should I care? It’s not like I just asked her out or something like that.” Sighing, the older driver shook his head at him and ruffled through his hair. “PR dude and I had to stop. They had to catch up. Media’s dangerous. Don’t let media close to you, yes?”

Not wanting to talk about his private life which was more or less non-existent at this point, he just nodded and smiled weakly. “Let’s do some racing.”

* * *

“And Christian really lets you do this?”, Mick asked in disbelief for what felt like the millionth time to her. “Yes, it’s not that surprising. He’d always have me watch the races with the kiddos and now that the volunteer year I was supposed to start today was canceled, I needed something to do for the year. Would have been stupid of him to not use this”, she paused and pointed at her ID-badge, “especially because he knew I _always_ wanted to do something with motorsport do.”

Shaking his head, he quietly chuckled under his breath and earned a gentle slap for that. “What? Afraid they’ll have me ask you all those stupid questions?” Teasingly, she smiled at him and he shrugged. “No, because I know you wouldn’t ask those stupid questions. It would bore the hell out of you to follow the rules for once.” Scoffing under her breath, she rolled her eyes at him and he smirked. “It’s the truth and we both know that. Maybe you don’t want to admit it to yourself, but that is none of my business.”

“You’re lying and you know that.” Pouting, she crossed her arms in front of her body and he chuckled. “Sure, whatever lets you sleep at night.” Before she could come with something to answer, she heard her name and only rolled her eyes when she recognized the voice. “Linnea, there you are! Your uncle’s been looking for you.”

Dramatically, she grabbed her phone and held it up high. “That’s what phones are for, Nico.” Mick decided the moment was right to excuse himself and entered the Ferrari garage, watching the second free practice session from Sebastian’s side of the garage. “Well not if you don’t pick up.” Shrugging, she turned around and couldn’t bring herself to smile at him. “Phones also have a text messenger. Which he knows I prefer, so that’s absolutely not my problem. Anyways, what’s apparently so important you’re leaving your precious Merc motorhome for it?”

“Florian’s sick, it’s likely some kind of food poisoning and he won’t be able to do the interview with Lando tomorrow. So we were hoping you could do it instead, you know, from teenager to teenager.” Confused, she looked at him, the German TV channel usually never really focused on someone who’s not German, not able to speak German or a championship contender – or Dutch. “I suppose I could do it if it’s really so important”, she sighed, knowing her uncle probably told the crew she’d do it once he had heard of Florian not being able to do the interview tomorrow. “Also it would be cool if you could do the pre- and post-qualifying coverage with me. Mick already texted me that he’d join us on Sunday after his second race, so you’d only have to do tomorrow on your own with me.”

She didn’t really had a choice if she wanted to do this longer than just for this race, so she nodded and told him to send her the details before turning around and going to the Ferrari motorhome, hoping to have a coffee with Britta and being able to complain about the pain in the arse Nico would be the whole weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually, I planned to wait with publishing this one until it's finished but bc someone very special just turned 18 today, I couldn't really let the opportunity pass! HBD Lucy, hope you don't kill me xoxo


	2. . 1

“Why didn’t you guys just reschedule it?”, Linnea asked her uncle as they sat in their taxi to the restaurant Nico had chosen for the team dinner. “Andreas asked us to talk more about McLaren, you know, with him being the team principal. It was scheduled for Thursday but Lando’s PR messed some things up so we couldn’t do it then. That’s why we can’t reschedule it, because it’s already rescheduled.”

Eyes rolling, she nodded, of course, it had to be something like that. “Great”, she muttered under her breath and faked a smile at him. “Look, I know you’re not really happy about it, but it helps to justify your internship. Plus it’s Lando, he’s not that much older than you are, it’s going to be fine.” She knew it wouldn’t be just _fine_, she would have to get up at inhumanly early hours to be at the circuit in time for the stupid interview – and all she craved right now was a good nights sleep.

“I’ve had a chat with Andreas about it and he talked with Lando directly afterwards, so he knows it’s your first time doing an interview and he’s going to stay there, just in case. But seriously, you’ll be fine.” The taxi stopped and she sighed, took her purse and handed the driver the money before getting out of the taxi – she spoke, unlike her uncle, a bit Belgian, which was regarded as a privilege of being at an international school which several language classes offered – and he followed her.

The night was surprisingly chilly after such a warm – she already declared it as hot – day, and she cursed herself for trusting her uncle that a t-shirt and some shorts would do it. Nico Rosberg, Kai Ebel, Heiko Wasser and the rest of the RTL crew already waited outside and she rolled her eyes at Kai’s choice of clothes. Linnea was pretty sure that if she had to look at those questionable clothes all night long, she might wake up with eye cancer tomorrow. The neon yellow shirt under the light green jacket mixed with some pink jeans – that was a new level of disputable clothes, even for Kai Ebel.

“There you are!”, Nico exclaimed and didn’t even wait for an answer, instead turned around and everyone followed him inside. The choice of the restaurant didn’t surprise her – Nico was known for his quite expensive taste by the crew members and as soon as they were inside, she definitely felt underdressed. Not uncomfortable even though the waiters gave her some rather unpleasingly glares, but underdressed. And while everyone else at least wore a jacket, she had no choice but to embrace the fact she didn’t care about it.

“Should have warned you about this place”, her uncle mumbled quietly so that only she could heard it – he must have noticed the glares she received – and took off his jacket, laying it over her shoulders. With the shorts and the flannel he was wearing, he still seemed to fit somehow in, and while she didn’t really like it, she knew she had no choice but to wear the jacket if she wanted to keep the internship. A heated argument with Christian why dress codes and fancy restaurants like this one were stupid wouldn’t help her current situation within the crew at all, so she sighed and nodded slightly.

* * *

In relief, she sighed when the door closed behind her and she was finally in her hotel room, all by herself. Christian didn’t want to leave as early as she intended to – of course, he didn’t have to wake up at inhumanly early hours to replace Florian at that interview with the McLaren rookie – but he also refused to let her leave on her own, so she was forced to sit there and sip on her water every now and then.

Christian and Nico had some heated argumentations about some drivers, both being former Formula One drivers themselves, they tended to refuse to acknowledge someone else might have another point of view on things and she didn’t dare to interfere there – knowing they’d drag her favorite, her fellow German Sebastian who had been the only one so far to approach her without disgust being present on his face.   
Kai and one of the camera guys had some discussions about Kai’s famous weird style and even if she wanted to, she didn’t really look at his clothes, so she didn’t even bother to listen to them.  
Heiko and one of their technic guys went through the schedule for the weekend and the others talked about some stuff they’d have to replace – both conversations were boring as hell, so she just sat there and played with the ice cubes.  
Somewhen after the dessert had been served, she had given up and had spent the rest of the night out on her phone, scrolling through Lando's Instagram and Twitter feed to feel at least a tiny bit prepared for that stupid interview. 

The relief soon turned into frustration as she set her alarm on her phone to 5 am, knowing the traffic would be mad tomorrow, leaving here with less than four hours of precious sleep. Quickly, she connected her phone to the charger, grabbed her pyjama bottoms and a random shirt and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Brushing her teeth, she angrily stared in the mirror, already noticing the bags under her eyes which would likely be even more present after her short sleep. _Fucking great_, she thought, _why did Florian have to get sick just now? Couldn’t have chosen a worse timing for missing his first Formula One weekend this season. _

Yawning, she changed into her pyjama bottoms and the shirt, leaving her dirty clothes in the bathroom as she declared sleep as the more important thing and decided she’d put them away in the morning.

So she climbed into her bed, grabbed her phone, send Mick a quick text, slightly complaining about the fact she had to get up in less than four hours before putting it back onto the nightstand. Turning the lights off, she then let herself fall down onto the mattress and took one deep breath before closing her eyes and forcing herself to just fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually, I planned to wait with publishing this one until it's finished but bc someone very special just turned 18 today, I couldn't really let the opportunity pass! HBD Lucy, hope you don't kill me xoxo


	3. .2

“For God’s sake”, she groaned after turning her alarm off. After such a short night, it wasn’t surprising she didn’t feel well-rested and not fit enough to survive another long day like yesterday. But she didn’t have much of a choice, so she forced her tired body to get out of bed and hopped under the shower, hoping it would wake her up a bit so she wouldn’t fall asleep in the middle of the interview.

Suppressing a yawn, she stumbled back into her room after what probably had been one of the coldest and shortest showers she ever had taken in her life so far. It helped a bit, but not as much as she hoped it would. Without looking at the weather app, she chose some comfortable shorts with an acceptable length that wouldn’t let her end up sticking to every chair she’d sit on today and her black shirt with a painting of baby Groot in the chest pocket. Because it was still early and the RTL van was rather chilly, she also grabbed an oversized hoodie to hide herself in during the ride.

Mick the lucky idiot hadn’t answered her, she noticed when she took her phone off the charger and mentally cursed him for not having to share her fate this very morning. Usually, the roles were switched, and she’d send him a selfie of her laying in bed and watching him race – she never really thought it would be different one day. ‘Lucky idiot’, she texted him, put her phone into her backpack and grabbed her keys.

The ID badge was still wrapped around the left strap of her backpack, one printed version of the interview was already in her bag but her uncle had assured her there’d be a back up one in case she lost it, her portable charger was still fully charged as she hadn’t been on her phone that much yesterday and the rest wasn’t really that important, so she locked the door behind her and made her way downstairs for breakfast.

As the buffet would open up at 6 – when she’d already be on her way – she had asked the lady at the reception if it would be possible to get some fruits to eat during the car ride and to her own surprise, the same lady welcomed her and handed her a brown paper bag. “I hope the choice of fruits is alright for you”, she said and Linnea opened it, only to nod at the lady. “Yeah, absolutely, thanks.” Even though she’d keep the banana for a snack, preferably hiding somewhere to have some freaking peace for once, the apples and the kiwi would be enough for breakfast. “No problem, glad I could help.”

As she didn’t really know when exactly the crew would show up, she decided to wait outside to not let them wait and piss them off on her third day as new the intern. So she gave the lady one last smile and went outside, slightly hissing when the doors opened up and the cold air hit her. _Maybe the shorts weren’t such a great idea at all_, she thought and regretted to not have checked the weather app which now told her she was likely to freeze her arse off in those shorts.

Just when she considered texting them to let them know she’d be ready in a minute or two, the by now familiar van showed up and she grumbled some not so nice words under her breath, knowing she’d have to survive the day like this somehow. _As if the day couldn’t have started worse. _

* * *

“Coffee?” Yawning, Lando nodded and Andres sighed quietly, regretting the request for more coverage about his team on the German TV channel. “I’m really sorry about this being so early”, he added while walking over to the coffee machine, “it won´t happen again.” It’s not like Lando didn’t understand his team principal’s request, he always felt proud when he was talking to the British media; proud of representing his home country in Formula One and he imagined it was the same for Andreas with the German media. He just didn’t really like the fact the interview had to be _that_ early on a Saturday morning, on a qualifying day because he could have really needed the sleep.

“It’s okay, no worries. Might have to take a nap to survive the day, but besides that, I’ll be fine.” Tiredly, he smiled at Andreas as the German placed a cup of coffee in front of him and earned a chuckle in return. “Tell me when you need that nap, I’ll try my very best to somehow make that nap possible.” Nodding, he took a careful sip of his coffee, looking surprised at Andreas – he remembered how Lando liked his coffee. “What? Is that so shocking that I know what my drivers like?”

“No, not really. Just didn’t expect it, that’s all.” Shaking his head, Lando looked at his phone and sighed. Almost 7 am. Usually, his alarm would ring now, giving him some minutes to lay in bed and refuse to acknowledge the time before he would finally leave his bed at 7 am sharp, getting dressed and going down for breakfast. He would definitely use this stupid interview in order to get out of something he usually would be forced to do. Some stupid media duties maybe. Or one of those PR gags with Carlos, even though those had been fun so far.

“There they are!” Andreas’ loud voice let his day- or morningdream come to a quick end and he groaned when the lights were turned on to make it seem like any other interview – preferably done on a Thursday afternoon, the driver and the interviewer both being well-rested and somewhat relaxed instead of almost falling asleep if they were left alone for longer than just a few minutes.

Lando casually took another sip of his coffee and almost chocked on it when the girl from yesterday entered the room behind the camera and sound guys. “You must be Christian’s niece then, it’s so nice to finally meet you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are welcomed as always!   
What do you guys think, how will the interview go?


	4. .3

“Okay guys, let’s get started.” Someone, probably from the TV channel, came and made sure they both looked somewhat presentable and Linnea could have sworn she would have fallen asleep if the makeup had taken just a tiny bit longer. The camera guy, appearing to be the most experienced person in this room, explained them briefly what to do before handing her the questions. Andreas gave Lando a thumbs up and sat down somewhere out of the camera angle.

“Before we start”, the Briton started and paused when he felt her glare on him, “ I’m not the best with recognizing people, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen you before.” _I would have noticed you_, he thought but decided to keep that part for himself. “Yeah, just started an internship.” She tried to give him the most convincing smile that this was what she wanted to do, but something told him she didn’t really want to be here.

“And who’s that Christian guy?” _Surely it couldn’t be Horner, the media would have written about that. _Lando was pretty sure he would have heard about Horner’s niece being an intern for the German TV channel. For a second, she looked surprised but then realized he wasn’t that much older than him so there was no reason to know him as a British driver. “I could tell you, but that would be boring. Think it’s pretty cool to be not just his niece. So yeah, let’s get started before the floor seems comfortable enough to nap on it.”

Quietly, he chuckled and didn’t really realize the camera guy mouthed “already started” into their direction. “I actually tried it out, it’s way more comfortable than it looks.” Skeptically, she looked at him and then shortly into Andreas’ direction who just nodded. “Seriously, I’m still surprised Carlos hasn’t blackmailed me with those pictures yet.” In disbelief, she shook her head and looked down at her notes. “Okay, so you’re often referred to as the memelord of Formula One. Care to explain why?”

There was a teasing tone in her voice and he swallowed, trying to focus on the question and on the question only. “To be honest, I don’t know. It just happens, I guess.” Linnea had been strolling through his Instagram page during dinner last night, so they both knew that _wasn’t_ _exactly_ the truth. “Well, your Instagram captions aren’t that … normal. Your crew pics aren’t that normal and formal as others. Maybe you didn’t choose the memelord life, but the memelord life definitely chose you.”

Again, there was that teasing tone and she smiled cheekily at him. “But Kimi’s the memelord! And Fernando!”, he tried to protest, but failed badly because that smile was too much for his sleepy mind that had been wondering about her all night long. “Pictures of you and posts about you are often posted under #memelord and all the variations of that hashtag on Tumblr. So I’m afraid you are the memelord.”

Triumphally, she looked at him and he scoffed under his breath. “Well, if refusing your title lets you sleep at night”, she shrugged and took a sip of water before asking the next question. Lando used that moment to look at her and only then he realized she sat there in shorts, probably freezing her arse off while he sat there comfortably in his McLaren hoodie and some jeans.

“Okay, next question. McLaren’s on P4 in the constructor’s championship, best of the rest”, she started and paused, giving him a moment to nod proudly, “which seemed rather unlikely after the last few seasons. What do you think has changed?” Those questions were the kind Linnea always had hated to hear. What was a driver supposed to answer? That they worked hard? That setbacks are necessary for improvement?   
“Well, I’m driving, so that’s obviously a huge change”, he responded seriously. Not expecting that answer, she looked at him rather impressed for a moment before putting her poker face back on. “Okay, well, no. Hard work, setbacks are a part of improvement and of course the driver change. I’ve been working with the team for a while now, so I knew most of them already. That made it easier for me to get straight to work – they already knew what I preferred, so yeah. Guess that helped.” 

Nodding, she suppressed a yawn and he gave her a weak smile. “Yeah, sounds like it.” For a moment, they were both silent, he watched her and blushed a bit when she looked back at him. Trying to find some more warmth that might be hidden somewhere in her hoodie, she attempted to hide herself a bit more in it, reminding him of offering her a spare pair of jogging pants. Couldn’t have her freeze to death, even though she belonged to the media, could he?

The rest of the interview was blurry, she asked questions she thought were stupid and he answered stupidly, causing her to chuckle at his responses every now and then. For him, it was the lack of sleep that made it difficult to focus – combined with the fact the girl he couldn’t stop thinking about since seeing her yesterday was interviewing him, it wouldn’t be surprising if he forgot every answer he had given her during this interview afterward. Linnea, on the other hand, tried to hide the fact she was freezing and super tired and would actually love to just lay down on the ground to try out whether it was as comfortable as he had made it sound like.

So when the camera guy announced they were done, both of them just looked up at him. While he stayed seated, watching her closely, she stood up and watched her crew for the interview packing everything up. “You two did a really good job!”, the camera dude said and she just nodded, already having forgotten about the interview itself. The only two things she really hadn’t forgotten about it were his pretty gorgeous eyes and that laugh she would be willing to listen to all day long if necessary.

When the two lads left, she stayed behind to exchange a few more words with Andreas before Lando’s team principal finally excused himself and left them on their own. “Well .. thanks, guess it was pretty good for the first one”, she smiled weakly at him and couldn’t help but yawn.

Just when he finally found the right words to firstly offer her a cup of coffee, then a spare pair of jogging pants he wouldn’t miss and finally his number, she grabbed her backpack and walked over to the door. “Oh, thanks from the whole crew for doing this, even though I won’t tell them their answer because those lucky idiots got to sleep after keeping me awake that long last night. And sorry for those questions, if I had more sleep, you would have gotten better ones instead of those they gave me. See you around, I guess”, she rambled, leaving him behind before he even could open his mouth to say what he had craved to say since yesterday evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, a last update before I'm off for like two weeks for the preparation seminar for my volunteer year abroad! Comments and kudos are welcomed as always. :)


End file.
